Global Automakers Still Deem Steel Their Material of Choice

Steel Remains Dominant At Auto Show

DETROIT, MI, January 10, 2000 – Journalists and show
visitors will see much that is new at the 2000 North American
International Auto Show. But, they also will see much that is very
familiar – lots and lots of strong, safe, affordable, lightweight
and environmentally friendly steel.

The vast majority of production cars, sport utility vehicles and
light trucks, along with a profusion of concept vehicles, use steel as
their primary material for structures, body panels, closures, bumpers
and wheels.

And with good reason: In spite of aggressive steps by competing
materials and driven by vehicle makers to make more environmentally
benign vehicles, the steel industry continues to meet its
customers’ requirements and, thus, has maintained its dominant
position as the material of choice for vital structural and other
applications.

Steel has been able to sustain its 55 percent share of average
vehicle weight over the past dozen or more years because the steel
industry has continually improved the performance of its material,
severely limiting opportunities for competing materials to gain much at
steel’s expense.

During the past two decades, automakers’ use of high-strength
and ultra high-strength steel sheet has outpaced the growth rate of
aluminum by 13 percent, making it the fastest growing automotive
lightweighting material. (Nearly eighty percent of aluminum usage is in
cast applications -- engine blocks, transmissions and wheels. Less than
two percent of auto aluminum goes into body structures and
closures.)

Steel is the world’s most recycled metal. It is the chief
reason for the nearly 100 percent recycling rate for out-of-service
automobiles. Steel is easy and inexpensive to recycle as it uses
magnetic separation and requires no sorting by alloy in advance.

Steel sheet is an unsurpassed material for producing crashworthy
vehicles and offers engineers the greatest design flexibility for
packaging engines, passengers and cargo.

Additionally, the steel industry’s continuing work is helping
automakers to produce vehicles that reduce emissions of harmful
greenhouse gases, including CO2.

Over the past seven years, the steel industry has engaged a series of
research initiatives to demonstrate and communicate the capabilities of
the steel industry to meet society’s demand for safe, affordable,
environmentally responsible vehicles for the 21st century.

The latest of these is the ULSAB-AVC (Advanced Vehicle Concepts)
project, which will present advanced vehicle concepts to help automakers
use steel more efficiently and provide a structural platform for
achieving:

Unlike its predecessor project ULSAB, ULSAB-AVC goes beyond the
body-in-white and will include the suspension, engine cradle, closures
and all structural and safety-related components.

Scheduled for completion in mid-2001, ULSAB-AVC builds on the
industry’s previous projects, ULSAB, ULSAS, ULSAC (UltraLight
Steel Auto Body, Suspensions and Closures, respectively) and LTS (Light
Truck Structures), which have shown the significant weight reduction and
performance improvement potential of steel. For example, ULSAB
demonstrated weight reduction of the body structure of up to 36 percent,
compared to benchmarked vehicles, with a substantial improvement in
performance and at no increase in cost. These low cost, high performance
solutions enhance steel’s competitive position and increase the
difficulty for competing materials to displace the incumbent steel.

The Automotive Applications Committee (AAC) is a subcommittee of the
Market Development Committee of AISI and focuses on advancing the use of
steel in the highly competitive automotive market. With offices and
staff located in Detroit, cooperation between the automobile and steel
industries has been significant to its success. This industry
cooperation resulted in the formation of the Auto/Steel Partnership, a
consortium of DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors and the member
companies of the AAC.

This release and other steel-related information are available for
viewing and downloading at American Iron and Steel Institute/Automotive
Applications Committee’s website at http://www.autosteel.org.